Crabs at Port Douglas

One of many fiddler type crabs (Uca spp.) found on the low-tide mud at Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia. These small colourful crustaceans with their tall stalked eyes emerge from their burrows as the tide goes out to feast on the surface biofilm of the sediments. The one in the video clip is shielding itself, and protecting its territory, with its large right claw while it daintily scoops up mud and food with its tiny left claw and pops it into its mouth. This specimen has a blue patterned carapace about an inch across (2 cm).

Yes, some varieties of crab leave little balls of sand on the beach. They were very common on the Queensland beaches I visited and I have many pictures of the patterns they make. That is going to be my next post.

The post is now published. I noticed how different the patterns could look from place to place. I’ll do another post soon with something similar but a bit different, and the images include a fleeting glimpse of one of the crabs exiting the burrow.